Junichi HIROKAMI

Born in Tokyo, Junichi Hirokami studied conducting, piano,
musicology and viola at the prestigious Tokyo College of Music. He began his conducting career at the age of
26 after winning the first Kondrashin International Conducting Competition in
Amsterdam.

Since 1990, Junichi Hirokami has appeared as guest conductor with
major orchestras throughout the world including the Orchestre National de
France, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, London
Symphony Orchestra, and Wiener Symphoniker.

Between 1988 and 1995, Hirokami was Chief Conductor of Sweden's
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Since then he served as Chief Conductor of the
Limburg Symphony Orchestra (1998-2000), Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic (1997-2001), Principal Conductor of Japan Philharmonic
(1991-2000), and Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (2006-2008).

In recent years, he has been a guest conductor of orchestras which
include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, L'Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano
Giuseppe Verdi, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky
Symphony Orchestra of Moscow, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

In Japan he has conducted all the major orchestras including NHK
Symphony Orchestra and the Saito Kinen Orchestra. He also received great
acclaim for his appearance with the Mito Chamber Orchestra.

He is prolific in opera as well, having led celebrated
performances of "Un ballo in maschera" and "Rigoletto" at the the Sydney Opera
House, and his most recent triumphs include "La Traviata" at the Fujiwara
Opera, "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Ainadamar" at the Nissay Theatre, and "La
Traviata" and "Aida" at the New National Theatre.

Hirokami is
currently Chief Conductor and Music Advisor of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. In
his eight years, he made the orchestra grown up greatly and made a big success
at Suntory Hall, Tokyo too in 2014 which televised by NHK. In 2015 he received 46th Suntory
Music Award with Kyoto Symphony Orchestra together.

He serves as professor
at Tokyo College of Music and guest professor at Kyoto City University of Arts.